Belowground carbon allocation patterns in a dry Mediterranean ecosystem: A comparison of two models

Total belowground C allocation (TBCA) accounts for a large fraction of gross primary production, it may overtake aboveground net primary production, and contributes to the primary source of detrital C in the mineral soil. Here, we measure soil respiration, water erosion, litterfall and estimate annual changes in C stored in mineral soil, litter and roots, in three representative land uses in a Mediterranean ecosystem (late-successional forest, abandoned agricultural field, rain-fed olive grove), and use two C balance approaches (steady-state and non-steady-state) to estimate TBCA. Both TBCA approaches are compared to assess how different C fluxes (outputs and inputs) affect our estimates of TBCA within each land use. In addition, annual net primary productivity is determined and C allocation patterns are examined for each land use. We hypothesized that changes in C stored in mineral soil, litter and roots will be slight compared to soil respiration, but will still have a significant effect on the estimates of TBCA. Annual net primary productivity was 648 ± 31.5, 541 ± 42.3 and 324 ± 22.3 g C m−2 yr−1 for forest, abandoned agricultural field and olive grove, respectively. Across land uses, more than 60% of the C was allocated belowground. Soil respiration (FS) was the largest component in the TBCA approaches across all land uses. Annual C losses through water erosion were negligible compared to FS (less than 1%) and had little effect on the estimates of TBCA. Annual changes in C stored in the soil, litter layer and roots were low compared to FS (16, 24 and 10% for forest, abandoned agricultural field and olive grove, respectively), but had a significant effect on the estimates of TBCA. In our sites, an assumption that Δ[CS + CR + CL]/Δt = 0 will underestimate TBCA, particularly in the abandoned agricultural field, where soil C storage may be increasing more rapidly. Therefore, the steady-state model is unsuited to these Mediterranean ecosystems and the full model is recommended.